In response to a parliamentary question submitted by the Pirates’ deputy Marc Goergen, Margue stated that we can only acknowledge approximate tendencies, which are created based on police reports. The amount of reports which concern minors has increased by 72% between 2019 and 2023, the total now standing at 4,500 reports. However, it is crucial to note that victims and culprits are thrown into the same categories when it comes to minors’ cases. Child protection forbids the addition of any further precision.
Without a stand-alone juvenile criminal law, the Christian Social People’s Party minister Elisabeth Margue (CSV) cannot share any detailed statistics. This is supposed to change with the appearance of three new laws, which will soon be implemented in order to modernise the system from the ground up.
An individual juvenile criminal law, a separate law for underage victims and witnesses, and another law for child protection are supposed to be implemented in the near future.
The CSV minister does not name a particular date in regard to when the new legislation will be voted upon, neither does she mention when the juvenile criminal law of 1992 will be reformed.
